


Happy, Free, Confused, Lonely

by Umbr_el_on



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ashe Week (Fire Emblem), Ashelix Week (Fire Emblem), Baking, Edgar Allan Poe References, Gen, M/M, Mentioned Glenn Fraldarius, Poorly Kept Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:40:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23151094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbr_el_on/pseuds/Umbr_el_on
Summary: RAs and residents don't fraternize. That's how it's been at Garreg Mach University for as long as (almost) anyone can remember, and it makes life just a little easier for everyone. Unfortunately, Ashe's unintentional charm and Felix's stubborn feelings can't quite seem to care.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic & Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert & Mercedes von Martritz, Ashe Duran | Ashe Ubert/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 10
Kudos: 42





	Happy, Free, Confused, Lonely

**Author's Note:**

> I like planning so here's a handy summary of everyone's year and major:
> 
> Ashe: Junior, English w/ Medieval/Renaissance concentration + Public Policy minor  
> Annette: Junior, Music Composition + Marketing minor  
> Ingrid: Senior (RA), Criminal Justice + Women's Studies minor  
> Mercedes: First-year nursing student  
> Felix: Senior (RA), English w/ Law and Literature concentration + Legal Studies minor

Ashe, Annette, and Mercedes tumbled out of Mercedes’ car in a fit of giggles, walking close together as they approached the entrance to Ashe’s dorm building. He fished his key card out of his pocket and held it up to the scanner, which flashed green after a few seconds. He reached over and opened the door before it relocked, letting Mercedes and Annette–who were both carrying grocery bags–walk in first. Letting the door shut behind him, he walked back to the front of the group to guide them to the kitchen area.

As one would expect, it was empty. Two in the morning on a Tuesday wasn’t an especially active time, but Ashe and Annette’s Wednesday morning classes had been canceled, giving them a unique opportunity to have some fun. With a little more giggling, they unpacked the grocery bags with the handful of ingredients they needed to make a box of what was sure to be the most delicious brownies ever.

“Mind if I play some music?” Annette asked, pulling her phone out of her pocket.

Ashe and Mercedes both shrugged, so Annette opened up her phone and scrolled for a few seconds before grinning. To no one’s surprise, she shuffled all seven of Taylor Swift’s albums. “Wildest Dreams” came on first, and Annette swayed along and sung quietly.

“Ashe, can you pour the oil?” Mercedes asked, already dumping the bag of brownie mix into a bowl.

Nodding, he scanned the counter in search of the bottle of oil. It took him a second, but he spotted it and slid it over the counter to Mercedes. She laughed, and it was then that Ashe realized what she’d specifically asked. With a chuckle, Ashe unscrewed the cap and pulled off the seal before pouring it into the measuring cup Mercedes held over the bowl.

When Annette decided this was the ideal moment to belt out the chorus, Ashe jumped and poured oil directly into the bowl. He tipped the bottle upright again and eyed the measuring cup and the bowl it hovered over. He hoped he didn’t ruin the brownies, they didn’t have anything else on hand to snack on.

“I’m sure it’s close enough!” Mercedes smiled and poured the measuring cup’s contents into the bowl.

Ashe watched the oil cascade over the powder, shining under the harsh kitchen lights. It soaked in slowly, changing from pale yellow to brown as it mixed in. If it sat there long enough, would it mix by itself? Ashe started to formulate that question into words, but Mercedes added in the eggs before he could vocalize anything. Oh well, a question for another day.

“It feels like a perfect night to dress up like hipsters and make fun of our exes,” Annette sang more confidently as the next song came on, her legs swinging in time with the music from where they hung over the counter next to the stove.

“It feels like a perfect night for brownies at midnight, to fall in love with strangers.” Ashe couldn’t resist chiming in with a twist on the lyrics; though he wouldn’t admit it to most people, Annette and Mercedes could be trusted with the knowledge that he knew and enjoyed quite a bit of Taylor Swift when the opportunity arose.

Mercedes must have known this one as well because she joined in on the next line as she started mixing all the ingredients together. They sang through the pre-chorus and chorus, breaking into small dances when the beat dropped. Ashe closed his eyes and soaked in the moment. These were the kinds of memories he wanted to make in college, and recognizing one of those moments as it happened was a glorious feeling. A growl from his stomach reminded him that the brownies could only make it better.

By the time he came back out of his head, Annette had greased a pan and Mercedes was pouring the batter into it. Ashe realized then they’d never preheated the oven and took care of that step.

“Now we have to wait for it to heat up,” Annette sighed, puffing out her cheeks with impatience.

“At least we remembered to turn it on,” Ashe pointed out, recalling their mistake from when they’d tried to make cookies.

Annette hummed in agreement as Mercedes found the oven mitts in a drawer. They were frayed, blackened, and pretty shapeless, but Mercedes seemed unfazed by their sorry state. Ashe had no idea how she trusted her hands near hot metal with only those rags to protect her, but he appreciated it.

“I’m sure it’s close enough,” Mercedes said once again, holding the pan in one hand as she opened the door with the other.

Mercedes slipped the brownies onto the rack and closed the oven door. Annette set the timer, and then they stood there for a second. And another second. And one more, before a song change prompted a reaction. The plucky chords of “Jump Then Fall” made Mercedes look affronted, and Ashe and Annette laughed. They hummed along with the lyrics for a verse before it lost their interest and Annette paused it.

“Should we go see what’s on TV?” Ashe offered, remembering the entertainment room on the other side of the half-wall boxing in the kitchen.

“I call dibs on picking what to watch!” Mercedes shouts, jogging off.

“Not if I beat you there!” Annette squealed and followed Mercedes, beyond hope of winning.

Ashe opted to walk over, and the girls had already settled onto the couch. Mercedes was flipping through channels as Annette snuggled into her. Flopping down on the other end of the couch, Ashe kicked off his shoes and crossed his legs. Mercedes settled on a rerun episode of  _ The Office _ . They all focused in, enraptured in the amazing daily lives of Dunder Mifflin employees.

* * *

The third episode of  _ The Office _ had just come back from a commercial break when it was interrupted by rushing water, flashing lights, and a blaring alarm. Ashe practically jumped out of his skin, on his feet and looking around wildly. Finding everything in the entertainment room dry and normal, he hustled around the corner and gasped.

“Shit!” He ran over to the smoking oven, his socks squelching under his weight as they took in water pooling in the kitchen area. His hair was plastered to his forehead and ears, and he stuck a hand over his pocket in hopes of protecting his phone.

He turned the knobs off as Annette and Mercedes caught up, their clothes hanging strangely off their bodies under the stress of the growing volume of water they contained. Both of their hairstyles were coming undone, makeup coming off in streaks. They must have been a sorry sight, and Ashe tried to make his brain piece together a way not to get caught.

Mercedes–keeping a more level head from experience–gave Ashe a gentle push out of the way. She grabbed the soaked oven mitts and pulled the pan out of the oven. Annette recoiled at the way the mitts sizzled when they touched the pan, and Mercedes mumbled an apology as she put the pan into the sink. The sprinklers stopped its smoking, but it had done all the damage it needed to already.

“We’re gonna have to evacuate…” Ashe groaned as he glared at the pan of burnt brownies.

“If we go now, maybe we can get away and dry off so it isn’t obvious we did it?” Annette asked, hope in her eyes.

“It’s worth a shot,” Mercedes declared, marching towards the door.

For all the reasonableness and probability for success their plan had, it did not account for a particular Head RA known for being a night owl and prickly hardass. Said RA barged into the kitchen, donning a neon orange safety vest and a glowstick in each hand. Ashe stopped when they made eye contact, and it felt like the room froze.

“What are you standing around for?” He snapped, gesturing to the door behind him.

“S-Sorry Felix!” Ashe’s voice cracked and he wanted the water to wash him away and spare him any further embarrassment.

“We’ll discuss this later,” Felix said as the trio walked through the door, Felix taking up the rear to get them outside before going back to direct six floors of students to the dorm parking lot.

With their sorry state, the RA who was already outside had an easy time pulling them aside. Her blonde hair was frizzy and bumpy in a bun, and checkered pants made it clear she’d just been woken up. Ashe felt another wave of guilt eating at him.

He glanced at Annette and Mercedes as they waited, deciding they were just as embarrassed and guilty as he was. It took about 45 minutes for the building to clear out for the fire department. Once the fire crew was inside, Felix approached the group.

“I’ve got it from here Ingrid, thanks. Can you keep an eye on everyone else until the building is cleared?” Felix asked, though his sense of authority and direction was clear in the way his gaze and voice held strong.

With a nod, the blonde girl walked away to address the larger crowd. Ashe watched her go until his attention was yanked back by a throat clearing. Felix had his arms crossed. He looked over each of them slowly, and Ashe braced himself. Of all people to tell them off, it just had to be the RA he’d had a crush on since freshman year.

“Would someone like to explain what happened?”

“We were making brownies and forgot them in the oven,” Annette answered in a tiny voice.

“How do you just forget brownies in the oven?” Felix sounded perplexed, but his face hardened again after a few seconds. “Nevermind. It doesn’t matter now.” He’d lowered his voice, and Ashe blushed at how nice the tone sounded.

“What matters is that your irresponsibility woke up and forced the evacuation of over six hundred students.” Felix launched into an impassioned explanation of the consequences of their actions, but Ashe couldn’t focus on what Felix was saying.

Instead, he found details on Felix’s face that he’d never spotted before. The gold flecks in his eyes, the sharp tip of his nose, the deep set of his eyes… He was unfairly handsome. Ashe stared more, trying to imagine how that face would look wearing an expression of affection and desire. It was hard to picture since he’d only ever seen Felix look neutral or annoyed.

“Are you even listening to me?” Felix snapped his fingers in front of Ashe’s face.

“Of course!” Ashe tried not to sound shocked at being pulled back to reality.

“What did I just say?”

“Uhhh…” Ashe smiled sheepishly.

Felix sighed and shook his head. “No one listens to someone with a dreamy expression like that.”

Ashe turned red and his eyes widened. Mercedes and Annette let out tiny giggles and looked between Ashe and Felix. Felix raised a brow but let the moment pass. Everything was quiet for a moment before Felix spoke up again.

“Since this is your first incident, I’ll leave you with a stern warning on file. I will not be so generous next time.” Felix turned and walked away, approaching the fire marshal to discuss their progress.

“Oh. My. God.” Annette smacked Ashe’s shoulder, and he felt like his face was on fire.

“What?” Ashe asked, tilting his head at Annette.

“While you were busy zoning out, Felix went on about how he sees you in the study rooms all the time and expected better from you. Mentioned that you seemed more responsible and diligent than this. If you ask me, it sounds like he pays a lot of attention to you!” Mercedes caught Ashe up, a warm smile on her face.

“You’re messing with me,” Ashe accused, unable to comprehend that Felix had perceived him outside of being another body in his building.

Ashe looked over to Felix just in time to catch Felix looking him over. Their eyes met for the briefest moment before Felix turned away, but it was enough to spark hope in Ashe’s chest. A goofy smile spread over his lips, and Annette and Mercedes laughed. Maybe he’d ask them for some help later. He needed to find some new assignments to ask Felix for help with.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [Twitter!](https://mobile.twitter.com/umbr_el_on) ✨💕


End file.
